Silence Annoying Smoke Detector Chirps With Roost Smart Battery

By
Angela Moscaritolo25 Jun 2015, 2:30 a.m.

You're all snuggled in your bed for the night about to drift off into dreamland when you hear it — the smoke alarm chirp. You now have two options: either get up and change the battery or deal with the chirping all night long.

Fortunately, this problem may be a thing of the past, thanks to a new smart battery dubbed the Roost. Designed in the familiar 9V form, the Roost Smart Battery "transforms your existing smoke or CO alarm into a smart alarm," and not only eliminates those annoying chirps, but sends alarm notifications to your smartphone when you're not home.

"We have been working hard to design a product that leverages your existing infrastructure — making your existing devices smart through a simple retrofit," Roost CEO and co-founder Roel Peeters said in a statement. "With the Roost Smart Battery, we address a real problem and improve the safety of your family and your home in a simple, yet affordable way."

To get the thing up and running, you'll first need to download the Roost app for iOS or Android and assign a name and location to each smoke alarm. From there, you simply connect the battery to your home Wi-Fi and insert it into the selected smoke alarm.

The free mobile app lets you monitor your smoke alarm, and get notifications on your device if it goes off. You can also opt to have it automatically send emergency alerts to friends and family so they can check on your house if something goes down while you're away on vacation. The app will also eliminate those annoying chirps by notifying you when the battery is running low, before the chirping begins.

The app also lets you silence the alarm with one tap for those times when you're just dealing with a burnt toast situation and not an actual fire. It also keeps a record of your smoke alarm activity, so you can see the last time it sounded or was tested.

Roost says the smart battery will last for more than five years and should work with all existing smoke and CO alarms in your home.

The product is available for pre-order on Amazon and the Roost website, and is expected to arrive in September. A single Roost battery will set you back US$34.99 or you can get a two-pack for US$64.99.

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About the Author

Angela has been a PCMag reporter since January 2012. Prior to joining the team, she worked as a reporter for SC Magazine, covering everything related to hackers and computer security. Angela has also written for The Northern Valley Suburbanite in New Jersey, The Dominion Post in West Virginia, and the Uniontown-Herald Standard in Pennsylvania. She is a graduate of West Virginia University's Perely Isaac Reed School of Journalism. See Full Bio